Bruins year in review

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK This year like pretty much every year the Bruins were considered to be right smack dab in the middle of things. Along with three or four other teams they were the top bets to win the East.

 

FINAL RECORD 44-14-12 Best record in the NHL. Beat Carolina in the first round, lost in five games to the Lightning in conference semifinals.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR 7 shootout losses led the league, in fact that had as many shootout losses as Tampa, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Colorado, Calgary, San Jose,Anaheim and Buffalo combined. David Pastrnak led the league in goals scored (tied with Ovie) For all the accolades that have come Boston's way, it is the first time since 1974-75 when Phil Esposito led the league that the Bruins have had a player lead the league in goals.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR Simply a white hot torrid start, they began the year 20-3-5 outscoring opponents 101-59 during that time. 

I will revisit this for them again in a moment.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR They essentially ran away from the rest of the league,but then from December 5th when they lost a fun game 4-3 to the Hawks in OT they lost 8 of 9, going 1-4-4 in that stretch. Then they won a few, lost a few for a few more weeks

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR PART TWO Pretty much the only team who gets a second listing of this, Tampa closed the gap, Toronto was gaining but then Boston caught fire again. In their last 20 games they went 16-3-1 to close out the best record in the game, playing insanely great defense, in those 20 games, they gave up one goal or less in twelve of the games. Think about that, sixty percent of their games for nearly two months they gave up a goal or less half the time.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Pastrnak led the NHL in goals scored and had 95 points. Marchand had 87 points in 70 games, Bergeron missed nine games but was nearly a point a game player with elite defense. Coyle, Debrusk and Krejci provided wonderful secondary scoring. Krug in his contract year was a beast. Also on the blueline, Chara continues to age like fine wine. Carlo is a minute munching all situation blueliner. Grzelk was solid and Mcavoy got absolutely no ink but played over two minutes a night more than anyone on the team and will take over for Krug as the number one puck mover if Krug moves on. Halak and Rask were simply brilliant as a combo in net. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Very, very little, i am gonna have t nitpick to find much. Backes was awful but was dealt in a late trade to Anaheim. John Moore couldnt stay healthy and wasnt very good. Brett Ritchie looks like a bust. Bergeron was a faceoff monster, but the rest of the centers ranged from meh (krejci) to pretty bad (everyone else) in the dot.

 

FREE AGENTS Pietrangelo is the class of the free agent class on the back end but Krug would be a nice consolation prize. Chara is an UFA but if he plays again next year it will likely only be with Boston. Joakim Nordstrom is an underrated fourth line with a tad bit of upside, he is the other UFA and like the others the Bruins would like him to return.

  The biggie is next year, Rask and Halak are both UFAs. 

 

OFFSEASON QUESTIONS Can they resign Krug, or will he be the scapegoat for the early exit to Tampa? Will they get to work on an extention for Rask or will they punish him by letting him walk next year as penance for walking out on the team mid playoffs? 

 

  They look to still have plenty of talent and their window is far from closed but with Krug likely gone, an aging core of Chara, Bergeron and Krejci they may be close to a transition phase.

 

[mojo1917]

I appreciate these so much, thanks for offering your insight.

[yave1964]

27 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

I appreciate these so much, thanks for offering your insight.

Thank you sir.

 

One of the may things i love about this site is that I have editorial freedom to write pretty much anything that pleases me. Every year I do a preview before the season and a review after, this is either year five or six of doing that, as well as quick write ups whenever their is a trade or a suspension or whenever i am bored, lol.

 

 Anyway, appreciate the kind words. 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

3 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

I appreciate these so much, thanks for offering your insight.

 

Yave is always good for some information about ALL teams across the league.
Even he will admit he isn't always right, but even when he isn't, he also isn't far off the mark.

But given the amount of goings on in the league, he comes up good more often than not.
Which is why it is beyond comical when some imbecile questions his attention to what goes on in the league.

I appreciate Mr. Detroit/Columbus as much as you do, Mojo.   

[Brewin Flames]

Great season, dissapointing end....

 

Oh well....seemed like they had lost interest when they came back.

[nORRis8]

Who's is safe in my books.

Marchy, Pasta, Bergy, Nordstrom, Halak, Gryz, McAvoy, Coyle, Wags, Carlo maybe Krug( depends on our cap space but Tuukka may have helped out there) and Lidstrom.

 

Show the door to Chara (obviously) and guys like Kuhlman  who skate well with the puck but cannot hit the broad side of a cow's ass.

 

Tuukka has had some very slow starts to seasons last and in each incidents Halak  and Khudobhin saved the day till he got his head right.

By his play it was evident he did not want to be there, then he said it was basically boring, then he quit.

All in all it resembled his "not into it" thing he goes through.

 

Save 7 mil. Cut him loose. Keep Halak. There's a decent crop of tenders out there who do want to play.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

For most of the year, Boston had been a one line team... Bergeron-Marchand-Pastrnak.
Get past those guys and it doesn't become overly complicated to shut the team's offense down.

Now...when they DID get secondary scoring (on a consistent basis) from guys like Krejci, DeBrusk, and Kase, all of a sudden, the Bruins look a lot more dangerous on offense because the ripple effect there is, the bottom sixers, led by Charlie Coyle would then find themselves with more room and opportunity on the ice when teams were focused on the top six in match ups.

Bottom line is, the Bruins are going to need guys like DeBrusk, Kase, Bjork, and Ritchie to ALL step up, and stay stepped up, play smart and provide a sustained compliment to the Boston top line.
If that doesn't happen, then Boston will find it hard to keep up with some of their divisional opponents like the Lightning and Maple Leafs....maybe even the Florida Panthers or Buffalo Sabres who look like they may be up n coming.

Some smart decisions will need to be made, particularly on the back end and in goal.
If I were a Bruins fan, I wouldn't mind Chara coming back for another season, so long as the money is reasonable and he doesn't take up an unreasonable amount of cap space that could be used on younger, faster players.

Tory Krug will depend on what his agent is asking for. No doubt he deserves a raise, but how much are they talking? And as Yave mentioned, Pietrangelo is out there now so if Krug is asking for too much and AP's price isn't too dissimilar (or better), then the Bruins may want to try and get him.

Goalie-wise, the Bruins BETTER have something in the pipeline.
Halak is ok to come back, provided he resumes his role as a backup, or at most, a timeshare goalie.
If Boston fans think he can be a starter, game in, game out, over the course of a season, then they are in for a rude awakening.
He never was that in his youth...certainly not now in his mid 30's.

But then what of Rask?
Big, big question marks there.....

Overall, I'd say the B's are on a slippery slope......they have the opportunity to maintain contender status, if some of their younger guys step up, Rask come back with a bit of fire, and their vets don't take a nosedive............ but they can just as easily fall off the face of contention if their vets really start showing their age, they make bad decisions on contracts, the blue line and net becomes a hot mess, or are forced to continue to rely on bottom six grinders because the young offensive players still aren't getting it done consistently.

Time is not on their side, because again, the rest of the division is working feverishly to improve and many of the Bruin rivals have lots of young talent maturing at good paces, while one team in particular, yes, the Lightning, are still poised to be perenniel contenders.

So unless Boston goes into any sort of retooling or rebuilding phase, they need to maintain the good they do have, and improve in areas where they were inconsistent, and do it NOW.

[Brewin Flames]

6 hours ago, nORRis8 said:

Who's is safe in my books.

Marchy, Pasta, Bergy, Nordstrom, Halak, Gryz, McAvoy, Coyle, Wags, Carlo maybe Krug( depends on our cap space but Tuukka may have helped out there) and Lidstrom.

 

Show the door to Chara (obviously) and guys like Kuhlman  who skate well with the puck but cannot hit the broad side of a cow's ass.

 

Tuukka has had some very slow starts to seasons last and in each incidents Halak  and Khudobhin saved the day till he got his head right.

By his play it was evident he did not want to be there, then he said it was basically boring, then he quit.

All in all it resembled his "not into it" thing he goes through.

 

Save 7 mil. Cut him loose. Keep Halak. There's a decent crop of tenders out there who do want to play.

 

 

Holy hell dude, when did you get here !

[nORRis8]

2 minutes ago, Brewin Flames said:

 

Holy hell dude, when did you get here !

I think it was about 6 years ago I signed up. I haven't posted here like maybe 3 years ago.

Still alive. Still kickin'.

How about you?

I saw that SDH shut its doors. Sad to see. Plenty of good people on there

[Brewin Flames]

3 minutes ago, nORRis8 said:

I think it was about 6 years ago I signed up. I haven't posted here like maybe 3 years ago.

Still alive. Still kickin'.

How about you?

I saw that SDH shut its doors. Sad to see. Plenty of good people on there

 

 

Yep, internet groups killed SDH, jason and i tried our damndest to keep it afloat, but he got tired of paying for a site that lost posters year after year with no new blood coming in...sucks, but life goes on.

 

I'm good, found a new home here.

[nORRis8]

Just now, Brewin Flames said:

 

 

Yep, internet groups killed SDH, jason and i tried our damndest to keep it afloat, but he got tired of paying for a site that lost posters year after year with no new blood coming in...sucks, but life goes on.

 

I'm good, found a new home here.

I walked away from all hockey boards {a good 3 years or so}  until last year when the boys made a run for the Cup.

Mostly at HF just like the rest of the lemmings.

Its ok. I'm not nearly the rebel/asshole I use to be

Wheres Spidey,  Uwey, tri etc?

 

[pilldoc]

14 minutes ago, nORRis8 said:

I think it was about 6 years ago I signed up. I haven't posted here like maybe 3 years ago.

Still alive. Still kickin'.

How about you?

I saw that SDH shut its doors. Sad to see. Plenty of good people on there

 

Welcome back .... We need more Bruin fans around here. 

10 minutes ago, Brewin Flames said:

Yep, internet groups killed SDH, jason and i tried our damndest to keep it afloat, but he got tired of paying for a site that lost posters year after year with no new blood coming in...sucks, but life goes on.

 

I'm good, found a new home here.

About 2 years ago when the Wild site shut down a gang of migrated here.  Spread the word. We will welcome them with open arms .....